Rise of the Chosen
by Lord Cameron. Master of Thorns
Summary: This is a crossover of the Teen Titans and Megaman X, set six hundred years after the Teen Titans die. wink Maybe that hints as to the plot?


Rise of the Chosen

©Johnathan Russell Cameron, November 2007

All characters and places mentioned within are © of their respective owners and are NOT challenged.

This story, how-ever, is a piece of "Fan Fiction" (A parody) & is otherwise entirely of my own creation.

My © over the content in its entirety, excepting the property of those involved, will be otherwise enforced.

Teen Titans and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © DC Comics.

Megaman and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © Capcom.

The year is 26xx. The world has, for the most part, been free from invasion, evil, and the sort for some six hundred years. But, some don't believe the rumors. Some believe that it is not the strong democracy that now spans all of Earth that is to take credit for the eternal peace, but some larger force. Some unchallenged monopoly over all the world's resources, over the entire world in its elegance. The great problems of the world have been solved. No longer are there any nuclear weapons. No longer is there a crisis of biblical proportions. There are lasers in space to vaporize any meteor. The lava of every volcano on Earth has been drained, and thrown into the sun. That space underneath them all, after being reinforced to keep the natural beauty kept above alive, are used to house massive super-cities. The one under Yellowstone National Park, or what is left of it, is called Under.

Under, the metropolis to end all metropolises, has some skyscrapers that are over five hundred stories tall. They can attach and anchor these super-scrapers to the ground and to the ceiling of the great cavern, where there is no entrance but through the tunnels. These huge underground subways go through all of the major cities on the Earth, all connected to each other. This massive city has been named the capitol of Earth, and is in itself a monument to the height of Human achievement.

The heroes of the world have all died out, as the muscles of the human body atrophy. Even those that would have been a part of the world after the Earth's last major Crisis in 21xx, when the colony Eurasia crashed into the Earth. But now, a resistance group has sprung up over Under, calling themselves The Chosen. They believe that they are prophesized to take the world, as the infamous "meek" that have become nothing but ancient oral history. Yet, they know not that their leader is the very one they are trying to destroy…

They have searched and searched for one to aid their cause. They are on the doorstep of someone who may be able to do just that. They walk on up to the doors of the old Reploid Force, an ancient system of caverns and tunnels now. They find themselves greeted by rusting doors and blasted down heaps of metal and wiring. Walking inside, they see what the UED wants them to see, of course. They see hundreds of thousands of corpses, of those that have come to this place as well as those that died here originally. The UED had quarantined this place at least one hundred years ago. Their reason: This place is a danger to public health. Then, for all to see, they know why.

Standing before them, in full un-rusted splendor, is a character from legends. One of them gets out a whisper before the entire scouting party falls before his elegant blade. That whisper, though unheard to all but the already doomed, was heard as thus:

"Zero…"

[Meanwhile, on the other side of the Earth

An old man walks through his ancient art exhibit, peering at the costumes of the super heroes of old. He even has some six hundred year old media, from the time of the fabled "comic book". He enjoys flipping through the pages, reading stories on those heroes and thieves he loves so much. And then he sees, as if for the first time, that he has costumes, the only five left on the planet.

He doesn't know who these costumes are for, but they seem simple enough. A black mask that covers only the eyes. A pair of what appear to be skin-tight black pants. A violet cloak. Half of a chrome mask, with a red eye-covering. A pair of green elbow-length gloves. All of which he has restored back to their original glory. But there's something missing. There's a spirit to them that he can't find, that he can't see. So he keeps them in vacuum tubes, still the best way to keep them from decaying with the centuries.

Soon, very soon indeed, he is going to lose possession of these artifacts. In fact, this very night a group of the Chosen ones plot outside his humble home, plot to take them from him. Quiet as ninja, the five young ones steal into his house and leave without alerting a single guard, without tripping a wire or laser, without any evidence that they'd been there at all. Except, of course, for the sudden lack of artifacts in the personal museum.

At a safe house hundreds of miles away, the five thieves put on the last parts of their costumes. A boy of hardly fourteen puts on the mask, and becomes Robin, from 20th century literature. The two girls put on the gloves and cloak, becoming Starfire and Raven, respectively. A small boy covered in green fur pulls on the pants, replacing a tattered pair of jeans. Beast Boy is born again.. Then, they all turn to the final member of them. A large black man stands here, looking sixteen or seventeen. Across his body there are chrome armor pieces, a cannon replacing his right arm. But his face, for now, is intact. With nano-technology and quick surgery, the man's face is no longer his own. Replacing him, a Cyborg stands in the circle of teenagers. Thus, the Teen Titans are once again assembled. Their only regret is not being able to find the complete suits for Kid Flash, Super Boy, Wonder Girl… And without the suits, the dark ritual would never work.

With their five suits complete, the Chosen ones lay down their sacrifice to the Dark Gods above, the Dreaming Watchers that govern their every day life and can grant favors if the price paid is right. With a dagger to the chest of this innocent young woman, the five pay their price all at once. Not to save lives, just to save time. When this dark ritual is complete, a few moments pass while the gods ponder, consider the correct course of action. When this course is decided, thankfully it is decided favorably towards the young ones. Five green souls come out of the body of the virgin maiden, one finding its way into each of the new, young bodies standing here. And, their eyes do glow with the ancient wisdom of millennia, and they do suddenly stand differently, looking upon one another again for the first time in centuries. As usual, Beast Boy is the first to speak.

"Is that a… Dead chick? Gross!" He flips, running off to puke up his host's lunch. The others slowly get used to their new bodies, looking upon each other with awe and amazement. But this moment quickly passes, as they test the powers they know they once had. Starfire, Beast Boy, and Cyborg's powers, stemming not from the physical body but from their paranormal powers (or, in Cyborg's case, his suit), remain at their full extent. Robin's powers, centering solely on his dexterity and agility, are all but gone. But Raven, in testing her powers, finds that her time dead have increased her power exponentially. She fears to test her powers here, where she can damage her friends. This fear manifests itself into a dampening effect on her powers, which makes her able to use them only barely. She looks at Robin, and he motions for the two of them to go train their powers back to full potential.. In short, she declines to train along side him. She informs them that she needs to be alone for just a bit longer, to re-integrate into life. She will leave for now, but she will be back. This is what she tells them.

A few moments later, Raven is flying low over Nepal. She sees her ancient temple, a shrine that she created six hundred years ago. It is still intact, still hidden in one of the most desolate places on Earth. It is uninhabited, even by the indigenous creatures of the area. And there aren't many of those. But as she enters, she notices something new, something different. Her most private sanctum outside of her own mind has been desecrated! Her anger boils to the surface, and a dry wind fills the cavern, moving the snow around. But, yet, these corpses are cold, as ice. They have been dead for a long, long time. Still, her innermost sanctum is no longer a sanctuary. She hovers out of it, and focuses a small fraction of her newfound power into the cave. The sphere of annihilation can be seen, with the naked eye, from space.

She wants to let off some steam, some real power. Yet, she doesn't want to obliterate the entire planet. And she knows that she could've done that before her stint in the underworld. So she opens a portal back to the underworld, so as to cause major havoc. When she arrives, it is much the same as how she left it, full of statues and processions in her honor. She sighs… She never did like being in the spotlight. Before too many demons notice her return, she claps her hands together, completely obliterating the entire dimension.

And with the endless nothingness, that void lacking everything, she suddenly sees what true darkness is. And her power, already borderline infinite, attains true darkness. Her power finally tops its own limits, making her completely one with the endless abyss that she now has control over. Of course, this also makes her wonder what will happen to her once she dies again. Will she simply cease to exist entirely, or will something else happen to her, something new?

Raven thus returns to her friends, having to use more power than she had those centuries ago just to keep her infinite power in check. She hovers up to them, who look out upon the great cliff that leads down into Under Square, the main square in the city. She turns around, and then makes it look like she's using a lot of energy to do something very simple. She creates the Titan's Tower once again. Out of the abyss, the T-shaped tower comes up once again, just on the outside of the city. Just the way the Titans like it. She clears her throat, making the rest turn and look at her and their tower. She motions for them all to go inside. They follow her, willingly.

About five minutes later, the five old friends sit on the semi-circular couch in the main room of the Tower, talking about their stint in five different under-realms. Apparently, there are more of them than one might think. Robin tells a story of Valhalla, while Starfire tells one of a newly found Christian Heaven. Cyborg tells of a grand field where he is a whole human, living one afternoon for all of time. Beast Boy tells of a school hall, where he fits in, where he is one green boy among all other green boys and girls. And then, Raven gives her description of Hell. The rest of them shudder deeply as she discusses in poetic detail the steaming pits of putrid flesh, the rotten corpses hanging by their genitals on white hot pokers. Eventually, she tells them a tale of how she comes to power in this land, of how under her rule the underworld has had peace for the past 600 years. She neglects to mention that they're all obliterated. That kind of information would only stir up trouble anyways.

Right then, Beast Boy and Cyborg start getting into a heated discussion about which of the afterlives are better than any of the others. Beast Boy thinks that his was the best ever, while Cyborg insists that his is the best that anything ever was. This actually causes Raven to smile a little bit… She has definitely missed their antics. But after a few minutes of reminiscence and amused tolerance, she has to leave the room. She just likes the quiet, that's all. It's not necessarily that she doesn't like Beast Boy and Cyborg; she just likes to be in a quieter area.

Eventually, the two stop talking, laugh, and give each other a hug.

"It's good to be alive, Cyborg." Beast Boy says, fighting back tears. "I missed you guys!"

"I know how you feel…" Robin says, looking at Starfire intently. Suddenly, he gets up, walks over, pulls her up off of the couch, and kisses her. Not a small kiss, or a meaningless kiss, but those slow-motion, romantic kisses that most prepubescent girls dream about on a nightly basis. His hands are on her waist, hers around his neck, and they become lost in the bliss of their reuniting. Raven, who had been about to walk back in when the two stopped talking, just stands in the doorway, watching that happen. She turns, walking back upstairs to her room and the silence, the sanctuary therein. Beast Boy sees this, and goes up to try to comfort her, getting the wrong idea.

Beast Boy walks to Raven's door, giving a soft knock to alert her to his presence.

"Go away." She calls, sitting cross-legged on her bed.

"Come on, Raven… It's me. Let me in. Please?" Beast Boy says, quiet and slightly pathetic sounding. Gasping in her eternal angst, she walks over and opens the door. She makes a sarcastic gesture, welcoming him to her room. He walks in, meekly. Then, he turns to her, looking through her hooded cloak to see her eyes. She tries to turn away, but his hand is on her cheek, stopping such things.

"Before we… You remember what I said, right?" Beast Boy says, his eyes twinkling with sadness, with memory. She shrinks back from him, turning away and looking at her plain black wall.

"Yes, Beast Boy. I remember. And… What I said… I meant it." She bites her lower lip, closing her eyes and bowing her head. Beast Boy pounces forwards, hugging her tightly to him. She gasps, a feminine 'eep' escaping her lips. Her eyes snap open, and she becomes intangible for a moment. Slipping through his grasp, she turns around and stands about a foot away from him. "Warn me before you do something like that, next time!" She says, hoping she looks as stern as she hopes she sounds. Honestly, she just wants to hug him back. She refrains from such acts.

"So… You do love me?" Beast Boy asks, taking in a huge breath of air and holding it within himself. Raven lets loose a fraction of her power, stopping time within the entire tower. With this in effect, she gives Beast Boy a small kiss on his lips, and erases the large blush on her lips. Then, she resumes her previous position and returns the world to its normal state. She has to do this… It is for the greater good. Her emotions are unstable… If he were to build on her, she doesn't know if she'd be able to hold her powers within her.

"I… I can't. I'm sorry, Beast Boy. I wish I could, but…" The small, furry green boy looks crushed. His shoulders droop, his face seems a thousand years old for a moment. In the interest of keeping any signs of masculinity, he refrains from bawling right there on the spot, but he definitely isn't going to last long like that. He looks up at her, the once-twinkling eyes now seeming as pits of darkness, all light lost from them.

"I… I have to go. Sorry, Raven." He starts to walk off, and she puts a hand out to stop him from going. He turns into a small monkey, darting to her door. Turning into something smaller, he easily flits under the door, and then he turns into a jaguar to be able to dash off quickly, silently.

Beast Boy sits in an upper corner of his room, in the form of a spider. He cries to himself, knowing that he won't be disturbed…

Robin stands on the roof, in the giant circular helipad. Across from him, ignoring the gusting wind as well as Robin himself is, Cyborg stands. He looks worried, slightly.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Robin? I mean, seriously! You should train a little before our first sparring match…" While Cyborg hesitates, Robin lunges forwards, his staff extended. He is fast, but not nearly fast enough. Cyborg sees it coming a mile away, and is able to dodge, catching Robin and carelessly throwing him to the ground. Robin gets up a bit, swinging his staff and connecting with Cyborg's legs. A loud noise of metal-on-metal is heard, but Cyborg doesn't move. Robin is shocked, right before Cyborg hits him in the head and his vision blacks out.

"I didn't mean to, Starfire, honest! He insisted!" Cyborg stands in the common room a few minutes later, trying to plead his case to the very pretty, slightly alien looking girl standing before him. She stands with her back to him, not receiving anything he's trying to tell her.

"You hurt my Robin. I don't care if he wanted you to, you still did it." She starts to walk off, but then a familiar face in the door stops her in her tracks.

"He's right, Starfire. I asked him to. Don't be so angry, please. It's not worth it." Robin cracks the bones in his neck, walking down and giving her a light kiss on the cheek. She smiles., and nods.

"Okay, dear. For you." She turns back to Cyborg, her eyes glowing a light green color. "Do you forgive me?" Cyborg is glad for his metallic face, because they can't tell that he's blushing underneath it.

"Psh… Yeah! I'm just glad you ain't pissed off at me any more." He says, brushing it off and walking to his room to get to training. Even though his metallic portions are as they were centuries ago, he still feels comfortable only after he's trained for hours and hours, under tons of weight forcing its way down upon him.

A dark room is all He sees, after having finally had an eternity to be to Himself. Why does this kind of thing always happen to Him? He is sick of it. He opens his eyes, to find that He is still wearing the mask. After all this time, He is still wearing the mask… How long has He been out? How much information is He going to be able to bleed out of this little one, here? This doctor or scientist, with spiky gray hair… Yes, He is going to have to torture this one. A quick flick of his wrist and the restraints on His body are gone, He is free.

More quick movements, precise movements, and the doctor is up against the table. He doesn't care what this man, this thing thinks… He only wants answers. This man isn't giving him any. Why not? He must push harder then… Dr. Wily is his name, so it seems. And after six hundred years, He has been brought back to life. How intriguing. But the doctor, this scientist has done his share of good deeds to the world. His usefulness is outlived, and he is now dead. All is, for the moment, as it should be. But of course, that is not long to last.

A man in a suit appears out of nowhere, slipping out of the shadows. He is told that He has been revived for a single purpose… To eliminate the Teen Titans. He looks at this man, at this one who knows nothing. He never wanted to eliminate the Teen Titans! He wanted so much more than that! He wanted, more than anything, peace. That was all. But now, it seems that peace is no longer an option.

So, action must be had. Fine. He accepts. He wants to know where they are. He is not told anything. All that is done, He is given back his arsenal of weapons, and then the world is at his disposal. A terminal, the internet. Ye gods, the internet! It is expansive, it is Artificially Intelligent, it is a sentient life form, it is a God! He can not dwell upon that now. He needs one thing and one thing only: Lackeys.

Robin gets off of a specifically entertaining bout on the internet, and he informs the rest of the team of his motives.

"I have found a sect of monks, supposedly over five hundred years old. They have been spoken of as being in Australia, so there I must go. I am going to come back, hopefully closer to the old me… I don't know how long I'm going to be gone. Sorry, Starfire, but you can't come with me. This is something… I have to do alone." He is already packed as much as he needs to be, so after kissing Starfire goodbye, he leaves. Starfire misses him almost immediately, but she's the only one. Raven is too caught up in sadness over Beast Boy, and him over her. Cyborg is just training, always willing to push himself to his absolute limits.

Robin rides his motorcycle and motor boat as much as he can, but as soon as he steps foot onto Australian soil he knows that he should go ahead on foot. Tasking his vehicles to find their way home on their own, he walks down the old, dusty roads towards inner peace. Within his mind, he remembers his afterlife in slightly more detail. Contrary to what he told the rest of them, he wasn't actually in Valhalla, home of the Asgardian gods. He could see up into that from where he was, but he wasn't actually there. He could admit that to himself, now. Really, he was in Hel's domain, the goddess of the underworld.

Robin can remember the centuries he had to contemplate, while his head was sticking out of the endless coBeast Boylestone road to her lair. Fortunately, there wasn't usually that much traffic, and he was off to one of the sides. He felt sorry for the ones in the center; the ones who got trampled the most often. Not that Hel herself didn't make sure to step on each and every one of the skulls at least once a day, every day. She did.

When Robin snaps out of his reminiscence, he finds himself at the gates of an obviously ancient monastery. With a single knock on the great red wooden doors, he is allowed inside. Greeting him is a monk, in a red cloak that is the same color as the wood of the door. They bow to each other, and the monk shows the way to the leader's quarters, the arrangement that they had come up with on-line. When they get there, Robin is shocked at what he sees.

"Gizmo?" He asks, looking at the venerable monk before him, completely robotic and meditating. It opens its eyes, looking at Robin.

"Dear God, what happened? You've been… You're… Dead!" It is just as shocked as Robin is, and they both look at each other with a sort of awe that is reserved for one meeting their maker. They actually touch each other's faces, and then shrink back.

"I suppose you're not evil any more, my old foe." Robin says, testing his tongue. Gizmo sits back, returning to his meditative position.

"No, friend, I am not evil any longer. I have seen the error of those ways. The question is, are you evil any more? Do you still have the same single-minded aggression towards the one foe you absolutely hated?" Gizmo looks up, and Robin wants to believe that he seems wise for his years. But, he realizes, if this one is still alive, then it is over six hundred years old. That means it isn't wise beyond its years. It might still be immature, for its age. He doesn't know.

"You mean Slade. I got over that, in our last confrontation. He let me know the real reason he had been fighting me all this time… He told me… Right before…" Robin shuts up at that point. He can't say any more. It is too difficult for him to speak any longer. Gizmo nods.

"I know. I heard. Your lot hadn't quite killed me, so I was able to hide from the robotic one and make it here alive. Don't ask me how I got here from there; I just know I was on a raft for a long, long time. When I washed up here, I wandered for months before I found this place, settled by a sect of monks the likes of which I'd never seen. At first, they didn't accept me. They thought me too reckless, and they were right. But I stayed; I learned the ways of peace. I knew that with the robotic one in charge, and Slade dead, that there was no reason to go back. I've been here ever since." Robin nods his head at this, and then sits down in front of his new master.

"I've no regrets here. Teach me, wizened one. I wish to learn, to get back to my former glory." Gizmo looks down at Robin, and laughs. For the first time in several hundred years, he actually laughs.

"You're joking with me! You must be. You want me to help you… Get back to your normal glory. You want me to help you get back to the point where you can kill me in a fight. No can do, Robin M'boy. You're on your own." Robin looks up at Gizmo, and stands up.

"What if I told you that the robotic was still alive?" Robin says, his eyes gleaming like they had when he became Red X. Gizmo's neck snaps upwards, and their eyes meet. Then Gizmo makes a noise and a gesture as if he had just spit, though nothing comes out of his mouth.

"Like Father, like Son. Fine, I'll teach you. Don't do what you're thinking of doing. I swear to you, that'd be a bad idea." Gizmo stands, his joints still well oiled after all these years. In a whisper, he tells Robin that its vegetable oil now, though. Oil is more valuable than gold, now. They chuckle at that.

The computer terminal finally goes black, the job is done. Eight stasis pods, with a different person inside each of them, stand as ominous as Slade himself. Standing in the middle of the darkness, He waits. Slade waits. The first one awakens, the pod lights up. Axle the Red opens his eyes once more. Then, the second robot wakes up, the Flame Dragoon steps out of his capsule. Squid Adler feels around with his tentacles. Dark Dizzy unfurls his wings once more. The Slash Beast tests his claws on the stone ground. The Frost Walrus picks at one of his icicle tusks. Izzy Glow buzzes about the room. Then, and only then, the pod that Slade has been looking at finally lights up. Opening his eyes once more, a familiar face takes a step out into the world of the living once more.

"All right, we're all here now. Come on, listen up. We've a job to do. You know why you're here, to serve me. Come on, we are tasked with finding and eradicating the Teen Titans. Though that might sound like an easy job, I know your record against one man, maybe two at the most. These are five strong. If you do not combine your forces, you will perish. Go, find and destroy them!" They all scatter in different directions, except for the last one. He still stands, looking slightly amused.

"You brought me back to life, Slade? I'm surprised." Dynamo says, shaking his head and putting his hands on his hips. Slade smiles, and the two share a friendly hug.

"No, I heard a rumor that he still exists. Weren't you supposed to kill them both when you had the chance?" Dynamo turns his head away…

"Well, I was dead, wasn't I? You do the math, old friend." Slade sighs, and then pats Dynamo on the back.

"It's okay now. We'll take them together. We've done the impossible before, we can do the impossible again." Dynamo smiles, and the two walk out of the deep, underground laboratory. They know that their search will be relentless, that they will find and kill the one they swore revenge on so long ago.

Starfire, feeling like there's no one to say goodbye to, gets in the T- ship. She knows that she can just fly to her home planet without any special circumstances, but she wants to get there fairly quickly. So, at just slightly under the speed of light, she travels to her distant home world. When she gets there, she is devastated by the sight that she sees, even from space. She sees a charred, barren world, with a sign etched into the now-flat terrain: A giant Z, visible from space. Instantly, she recognizes it. She seethes, turns around, and flies back towards Earth. That creature is going to pay for this. Her righteous fury burns through her body, and she feels the interior of the ship slowly get hotter…

The ship, quite suddenly, explodes. She finds herself un-harmed, in any way, but she is surprised by the sudden explosion of the ship. One moment, she was flying along, seething about Zero, and the next… Oh well. She flies the rest of the way back to Teen Titans headquarters, slowly making her way through the endless void of deep space…

Cyborg is just finishing his training for the night, so he walks over to the kitchen to fetch himself something to eat. When he gets there, he finds Beast Boy, eating a giant piece of meat! Cyborg's jaw drops at first, and then he notices the streaks on the boy's face. He walks around to the other side of the counter the former vegetarian is sitting at, leaning down and looking him in the eyes.

"A'ight, man… What happened? You're bummed, bad. I can see it. You're not a carnivore, man! Put that down!" Beast Boy looks up at Cyborg, drops the meat with a loud meat-on-metal sound, and then walks out of the room, grumbling.

Cyborg leaves the meat alone, for the moment, and follows Beast Boy to his room, where he stops the door just before it closes. He looks at Beast Boy's room, everything looking clean and neat.

"Now I'm sure something's up. What's going on, man? Come on. Talk to me, you know you can. I'm your best friend, I can help. What's on your mind?" Cyborg looks down at the little green man before him, who is sitting on the lower bunk of his bed. He looks up at Cyborg, sighs, and then points at a chair, a very old chair that Cyborg had never seen before. In fact, he had never seen most of that half of Beast Boy's room, it was usually covered in junk. Today, however, he can't see any junk. At all. It freaks him out a little bit.

"Cyborg, I love Raven." Beast Boy says, his head in his hands. Cyborg looks down at his best friend, as if to ask if the little guy's joking. Then, taking another look at the only half-dried streaks on the poor guy's face, he changes his mind.

"Did you tell her?" He asks, not really sure what to say. He's a robot… They're not supposed to handle all that emotional stuff. Plus, before he was turned, he never had anyone to love before. He doesn't really know how to handle it. Beast Boy looks up at Cyborg, and the proverbial light bulb goes off over his head. He scrambles to his feet, his mouth slightly open.

"You're a genius!" He says, more to himself than Cyborg. His best friend motions for Beast Boy to elaborate, so he does.

"It's the oldest trick in the book, but it works, and that's why it's in the book. What I'm going to do is get some other girl, so that Raven will get jealous, and then she'll have to come and take me back from her! Perfect!" Beast Boy looks at Cyborg, who is just chuckling there in the background. "What?"

"Well, besides your obvious problem with women in general, and the insanity to fall for the craziest girl in the history of women, there's more to it than that. She knows you're that desperate, so she'll be expecting something like that to happen. It has to catch her off guard. That means that either the girl has to be trophy wife material, or…" Cyborg can't even finish the sentence. He's too busy laughing, hard enough to make him choke.

"It can't be a normal girl at all! No normal girl is that remarkable! It would have to be…" The two of them look at each other, and then shake their heads. The same thought came into both of their eyes, and then Beast Boy lowers his head again.

"Terra." Cyborg says, letting it out into the air. The two of them both know it had to be said, it was just a matter of who. Nothing else could be said until that was there.

Cyborg gives Beast Boy a pat on the shoulder. "I'm sorry, man. That's not going to happen." Beast Boy looks back up at Cyborg, and another light bulb goes off.

"You could do it." He says, and Cyborg is lost. Completely.

"What do you mean?" He asks. Beast Boy touches Cyborg's hand for a moment, biting his lip before continuing.

"We fake being gay. Shocking to the extreme, I get her back, and if we can do it fast enough, Starfire and Robin don't have to know anything." Beast Boy says, making Cyborg shrink away.

"Are you out of your gourd? I'm not gay! I would never…" He can't say no to the sadness that his best friend has in his eyes. He turns away, sighs, and his shoulders drop slowly. "All right, BEAST BOY. I'll do it. But no funny business, okay? I mean, damn man!"

A few hours later, Beast Boy and Cyborg are sitting out on the common room couch. Raven floats in, to pick something up from the kitchen. Out of the corner of her eye, does she see… Are they… She stops herself from fainting. They're kissing! Beast Boy and Cyborg are kissing. Well! She quickly grows angry at this, angrier than she's been in a long time. She slams the fridge's door closed, 'snapping them out of' their little kiss. With the eye not facing Raven, Beast Boy winks at Cyborg. They act surprised, of course, but Cyborg feels something… Did his… No. It couldn't be. He dismisses it, though it nags still on his mind. He has to focus on Raven right now. She's getting angry, yelling at them. Good. Not like he's expected to listen anyways. Looking over, he sees Beast Boy, pretending not to listen. He knows the boy is listening to every word. Suddenly, something dawns on him, and a couplet flashes across his mind.

"O time! Thou must untangle this, not I;

It is too hard a knot for me to untie!"

Raven looks at Cyborg, who just uttered this quite out loud. He just sort of blushes a little, stands up, and quickly walks out of the room. Beast Boy and Raven look at each other for a moment, and then Beast Boy starts to follow Cyborg out of the room, when all hell breaks loose. Suddenly, the window of their tower crashes in. No warning, nothing.

Just, very suddenly, three people are standing in their living room. The word 'people' here is, of course, used very loosely. In fact, these three beasts aren't really humans at all, but robots. The first, a very large red humanoid draconic creature, stands on the remains of their coffee table. Raven looks straight at him as the other two slowly come into view.

Through the hole made in the great pane window, a much more fragile looking robot flutters into view, its wings a similar color to Raven's cloak. Then, the third comes out of the floor. This huge, but still humanoid, creature appears to have a very muscular appearance, and has claws of some sort of metal. Raven brings her fists out to her sides, orbs of black energy flowing around them. Beast Boy calls to Cyborg, who runs in to look at the three robotic beasts standing (or hovering) in the common living space. Raven chooses to volunteer to speak first.

"Leave now or die." Is all that she says, and all that needs to be said by either party. The three robots lunge forwards, each going for a different mark. The bat goes for Raven, its energy the opposite of the ambient energy's color. This gives the effect of a picture's negative surrounding, but not including, himself. When the two sets of energy collide, the two of them find themselves locked in a struggle of minds, though she is naught but toying with the robot. Beast Boy has turned himself into a great green bear to combat the clawed horror, and Cyborg has his hands full doing karate with the flaming robot beast. Yet the three of them are all grinning, having a blast. This is what they missed about the Earth, not each other. They missed the conflict, the battles. This is why they're back.

Thirty seconds pass. The dead and broken bodies of the robots are thrown down the side of the tower, and Raven claps her hands together, instantly repairing all damage done to the tower. Just then, Starfire bursts into their room. She is dressed in the blackest of armors, her normal clothes twisted by the pure rage she is feeling. She looks at Raven, and the two nod silently to each other. After spending a little bit of time in each other's bodies, the two have known what the other is thinking, at least on the outermost level.

"More are coming." Starfire says, looking between the other three members of the Teen Titans, slightly reformed and completely kick ass looking.

"You're right, in a way. But in another way, you're completely wrong. You see… We're already here." Axle the Red says, leaning against the full-paneled wall of glass. Next to him stands Squid Adler, a metallic wonder with three tentacles instead of each arm. They then rush the four teen titans, axle taking Starfire and Cyborg, while Squid Adler takes on Raven and Beast Boy. Surprisingly, the two of them last longer than the first three that came to attack. But an energy blade from Raven to one's skull rarely results in anything other than death, or so these two quickly find out.

Another few minutes later, the two's bodies are flung out of the building, by way of the roof. The four get a good look at each other, and finally realize that the show is over. Smiling, they walk back down towards the common room.

Once they get there, they see Robin, sitting on the couch. He looks up, sees Starfire, and wonders what is going on. That, of course, and that Beast Boy and Cyborg are holding hands… Something isn't adding up here. He stands up, remembering Gizmo's parting words.

"Sometimes, the world isn't as it seems. This is when things are going to go wrong, horribly, horribly wrong. It might not seem like much. Your friends might seem different. You don't know how, but you know they are. Then you know, all is not well." Robin backs up, towards the big screen television. Just then, The Frost Walrus, Izzy Glow, and Dynamo drop through the ceiling… Right onto where Robin was a few moments ago. He sees this is as a sign of good faith. But there's something familiar about the man standing in front of him, facing him, with one hand on his hip and the other hanging down towards the floor.

"You must be Robin. Oh yes, he's told me a lot about you. I'm sure we've probably met before, if only once or twice. It's a shame that he has ordered me to kill you. I'd have really liked to see where you would've gone in this world. I would've really liked to see what would've happened to you, had you not been central to this whole mess…" Dynamo rushes forwards, but Robin is better now. For a moment, he seems to disappear as he jumps over Dynamo, graBeast Boying him from behind and throwing him into the Frost Walrus. Izzy has been charging a laser to fire out of his firefly behind, but Raven stops that from happening as quickly and as easily as Cyborg punches the Frost Walrus, a hole the size of his fist suddenly appearing in the fragile robot's head.

"Well… You're not as… Pathetic as I thought. No matter, all will be made clear in time." Dynamo slams his hand into the ground, and a wall of purplish energy flows up into the air. He drops through it, leaving nothing but the two useless robots to contend with. Had they been more organized, Raven would've been able to stop that purplish flow, allowing Robin to go through the floor after Dynamo. Sadly enough, they aren't that coordinated, so they are left to mop up the mess he left behind.

"Alright, I've had enough of this." Raven says, walking up to Beast Boy. Without further ado, she picks him up by his cheeks and kisses him full on. They are covered in a concealing black light for a moment, and then they return to this world.

Beast Boy doesn't seem to be any different, but Raven is definitely a changed person. Her robe, the only signifying trait on the outside that can be seen, is now a brilliant white color. She stands, hovering, about an inch off of the floor, looking down at her new garments. Then, she lifts Beast Boy up off of the ground, gives him a great big hug, and sets him back down. She whispers something in his ear that only he can hear, something that makes his fur turn all sorts of weird blush-y colors, and then she hovers over to Cyborg, politely tapping him on the head.

"You're welcome, Cyborg. I know that was 'too hard of a knot for **you** to untie', but I don't seem to have that problem." She giggles, and floats off to redecorate her bedroom. Robin looks around the room, at the metaphorical puddle on the ground that was Beast Boy a few moments ago, and then turns to Starfire.

"Is it just me, or did things get weird around here while I was gone?" He asks, in a good mood. He likes it when Raven is this happy. It really helps things along. Starfire just shrugs, suddenly filled with the happiness that is overflowing from Raven. She catches herself dancing, when she's supposed to be seething mad about what Zero did to her planet! She gasps. Zero! Robin!

"Robin! Zero destroyed my planet! He killed everyone there, including my sister!" She yells, loud enough for everyone to hear. Raven drops through the ceiling, as Beast Boy picks himself up off of the floor, and the four of them genuinely give her a heartfelt group hug. This can't bring back her race from extinction, but then something horrible happens. She sneezes.

The four others instinctively back away when she sneezes. Yes, this one was dainty. But who knows… The next one might not be. The next one could have laser vision written all over it. They remember the time, over six hundred years ago, when she hit puberty. This sickness, whatever it is, could be nothing, or could be another catastrophe. So they take her from where she is, Robin guiding her to the chamber of safety. There they keep her, so that she can't do any damage to herself or the rest of the planet. Robin breathes into the window when the rest have gone, drawing a little heart in his breath…

Dynamo limps into Slade's base of operations, holding his broken right arm. Collapsing in the main circular room, he calls weakly for help… Out of the darkness, a venerable man walks up to him. This man takes off Dynamo's forehead panel, attaching a computer to Dynamo's brain. His brain functions cease for the moment, and he blacks out…

When he wakes up, he is laying on a table. He has no idea how much time has passed, if any at all. Sitting up, he sees the doctor sitting on a chair, next to a standing Slade. Dynamo gets off of the table, standing tall and saluting his master.

"Sir, our forces have been defeated. I barely made it out with my life. Five of our troop took point, instead of attacking all at once like you wanted us to. I'm sorry, sire. It won't happen again." Dynamo bows deeply, his waist joint almost creaking. He grumbles silently about needing oil, and then looks Slade in the eyes.

"Yes, I am well aware of the situation. Dr. Cain here told me everything. I've already revived the Robot Masters. They are waiting for a joined assault, where the penalty of failure is much, much worse than death. You will kill the five Teen Titans, or I will make sure you wish I had destroyed you all. Do you understand me, old friend?" Dynamo swallows, nods, gets up, and goes to find his party. They all get together, and prepare to storm the Titan's tower while they are most vulnerable, in their sleep.

Cyborg is first alerted to the presence as Dark Dizzy seems to melt up from the floor. He raises the alarm, happy to have a reason to get Beast Boy and Raven out of bed. They get to the common room, faces red and out of breath. Robin appears shortly after, looking as if he's been crying. The other seven Robot Masters make their appearance shortly after that, but it doesn't matter.

The eight of them, even together, are able to be dispatched in a matter of minutes. And afterwards, they all go back to doing whatever it was that they had been doing. Cyborg sits back down on the couch, watching Beast Boy and Raven leave hand in hand. He wants what he had with Beast Boy back. Even the friendship he had before the incident, something. Beast Boy hasn't looked him in the eye since they 'broke up'… How can a fake relationship do that much to them? He closes his good eye, his human eye, and thinks. In all honesty, there's nothing he can do. What happens to the two of them is not his problem, not in the least. Still… He really wants to go back to that. Did Beast Boy show him a side of himself he had never seen before? Yes. Does he want to explore that now, more than anything? Yes…

As suddenly as any other idea, it comes to him. Cyborg is going to have to leave, right now. He knows somewhere deep in his heart that it had been coming for a long time. Now, it is finally time to actually do it. To go out, like so many others, and search for his glory, his future. There is nothing more for the only single, newly homosexual member of the Teen Titans. Well, ex-member, now. He sighs, stands, and walks down to the base of the tower. Going down, he sees Robin. The two catch their last glances at each other, the last glances of two allies, and Robin knows exactly what is going on. His mouth opens slightly as he watches his friend go down the hallway, completely unable to raise even a slight call of 'no…'

"No, no, NO!" Slade raises his hands, and blue bolts of electricity come out of his fingers. He raises them over the corpse of Izzy Glow, and watches as the little guy grows, mutates. The little wings he had turn into a set of four huge energy wings, placed on the shoulder blades of the creature instead of the back of the bug that it was on beforehand. The firefly bulb on his tail moves to the center of his broadening chest, as his head grows away from his new shoulders, a neck coming up between the two. He grows a set of full-sized arms, the bottom set turning into a set of legs below a torso area. Where his third set of hands lay, he now has nothing more than a decorative piece of extra armor. His armor is the same orange as his energy, and he stands as tall as Slade or Dynamo, about six feet tall. Pushing the unconscious Izzy into a stasis cell, Slade moves on to the next creature.

Slade focuses his electrical energy upon Dark Dizzy. The large bat-lord rises up as if in a trance, and shrinks slightly. Instead of being about six and a half feet tall, he is now the average six feet, though he looks a lot different. He now wields a scepter, a carved golden instrument of war with gleaming inscriptions and purple gems set into the top end. He looks more regal now, definitely more sophisticated. Slade pushes this unconscious creature into the second stasis cell, and moves on to the next one.

Slade's energy is focused on Squid Adler for a moment. This creature definitely grows, about twice its original size. Not quite as large of a growth spurt as Izzy's was, but close. His tentacles are replaced with arms, but all over his body there are compartments. Slade has the suspicion that there are missiles, tentacles, and other goodies hidden all over this one's body now, and he likes that. He pushes it into a stasis cell, and moves on to the fourth one.

The Fire Dragoon seems to be the last one he is going to have the strength to adapt, to increase in power. He can feel the fatigue setting in, willing him to sleep for the first time in six hundred years. He can feel his body weakening with use… This undead doll is not powerful enough to keep him for long. But he is not to be concerned with himself, not for the moment. The crackling electricity has left the Flame Dragoon looking completely different. Instead of looking robotic, now it looks like a person with robotic armor. It shrinks by a full foot and a half to the average six feet, and can move a lot faster because of the unnecessary weight that Slade has taken off. After throwing this last upgraded robot into its cell, Slade feels tired, so he just revives the others and throws them all into their respective cells. Grumbling about being tired, he walks to his private quarters and flops down on his bed, falling almost instantly into a deep sleep.

Slade stands in an infinite expanse of his own psyche, white fog blowing everywhere around him. Looking around, he sees naught but this white translucent fog. Then, out of the end of this fog, where translucent becomes opaque, a figure walks towards him. This dark figure seems to be drawing itself through the fog by walking, but also seems to still be creating itself out of the depths of his mind. Quite suddenly, it walks out of the nearest fog and stands, completely visible, about five feet away from Slade's own self.

"I knew you'd come." Slade says, drawing an energy blade he's never seen before. He doesn't normally use one, so he's unsure where this one came from, but he's okay with that. He points this energy katana at Zero, who silently draws his own Z-saber. Within the next few seconds, over one hundred thousand slashes, stabs, parries, and acrobatic dodges are executed with perfect precision. Neither of the two can get a single hit on the other, no matter how hard they try. But, for that brief instant, Slade shows his weakness. He pants, taking a few breaths. Zero does not. Instead, Zero chuckles, lunging forwards and stabbing Slade through the heart.

"Don't challenge me, Slade. I'll kill you." Zero says, as Slade wakes up.

Cyborg walks through the sprawling suburbia around Under. Surprisingly enough, it's not that different than the suburbia that he knew of in his own time. This is just a little comforting, as he imagines himself back in a friendlier timeline. Out of nowhere, suddenly, one of the houses explodes! Walking out of the fiery rubble, a person only half-recognizable comes strutting towards him.

"You're… But we killed you! Twice!" Cyborg says, his arm cannon at the ready. The Flame Dragoon just laughs, his hands bursting into flames. He walks slowly towards Cyborg, distracting him long enough for the rest of them to get there.

"You know, we're more powerful now. Your team could defeat us before, but now not even all of you could do it. And you're alone. Just surrender, tin man. We'll promise not to kill you." It laughs, as Cyborg shoots an energy ball that hits the robot master in the chest. A smoking crater is left behind, but it isn't nearly as large or as deep as it was before. Cyborg smiles.

"Yes, but you still bleed." At this point, the other seven get there, making their normal, albeit grand, entrances. Cyborg turns in a quick circle, eyeing them all. Smiling, he gets to work. Not that they were all that difficult before, but the power upgrades are definitely not enough to take him on. He dispatches them all, quite a bit easier than he had once thought possible. As he finishes blowing the head off of the last one, he hears a slow applause, coming from on top of the nearest house.

"Bravo, Cyborg. You've really out done yourself this time." Cyborg turns to face the source of the sound, and growls at he who is making it.  
"Slade." He says, pointing and charging his arm cannon. Slade jumps down, landing on the ground, on an equal playing field.

"Now, now… I come in peace, Cyborg my boy. You don't have to point the gun at me. Let's talk, shall we?" Slade says as he puts his hands out, showing that he is unarmed. Cyborg looks at the deceitful man in front of him, but he has no respectable choice but to put his weapon down.

"What do you want, Slade?" Cyborg says, staring at the man's visible eye. Slade shrugs, walking over and leaning against the nearest non-felled tree.

"Nothing much, my old adversary… Just a helping hand. There is an evil greater than I in this land, and I want your help to destroy it." Cyborg laughs at this, looking towards the sky for a moment.

"You really expect me to believe that your intentions are noble? Come on! You're the evilest thing in the world after this thing, whatever it is, is destroyed. Do you really think I'm going to…" Cyborg stops. He thinks to himself for a moment, and then turns to Slade once more. "It's Zero, isn't it?" Slade nods solemnly. "Then I'll go with you." Slade claps his hands, smiling brightly.

"Excellent! We should move now, since he's probably watching us. We can beat him, Cyborg. Together, we can beat him."

Cyborg and Slade enter the cave, the same cave that Zero is rumored to be hiding in. The rumor is actually closer to a "no one who enters this cave lives to exit", but the idea is the same. This strange duo finds itself wandering the endless caves, searching for an enemy more powerful than any other on the planet. Secretly, Cyborg hopes that they're wrong, but still…

The cave is dark, dank, and smells of rust. Water drips from the ceiling, but the cave doesn't appear to be old enough to have generated stalactites or stalagmites yet. Their footsteps are all that can be heard as they walk, Cyborg slightly behind Slade. Slade, and the rest of the corridor in front of them, is bathed in the light from Cyborg's floodlight. The two come around a small bend, to see an entrance to a grand chamber, a metalwork cavern fit for a king.

Directly in front of them, on the ground, some against the walls, are several corpses, not especially fresh. For a moment, the two wonder why they can't smell the decomposing flesh, the rotting bodies, but they see that these bodies are not rotting, not decomposing. They seem to be perfectly preserved, as the ancient mummies of Egypt. But that isn't their primary concern. In fact, their eyes barely glanced over there before focusing on the main event, the center of the room.

In the center of the room, connected to the ground and the ceiling, there is a grand cylinder, made of tubes as big around as the average person's arm. They all connect to a bubble of glass, slightly elongated to fit the height of the person, thing inside. The stasis pod is full of a green liquid, with small bubbles flowing from the bottom, or from the person, to the top of the pod.

The person inside, to these two people, is unknown. He has a fair complexion, that which they can see. Both hands are covered in white gloves, unless the hands themselves are white. These are in turn attached to blue bracer/gauntlets, which end near his elbows. His skin is open from the elbows to his shoulder-pads, which are spherical and the same blue as the bracer/gauntlets.

Connected to the shoulder-pads, there is a top section of the same blue colored armor, with a lighter set of protrusions making up the bottom of the breastplate of his armor. Then there is a space of his stomach that is not, for the time being, covered, and then he has the same standard blue for his hip armor, that looks sealed shut. Under that, he has a bit more skin showing, until his knee, where his boot armor begins. It is the standard blue color, and is one piece down from his knee to the joint section, where there is a medium-sized dark circle to signify the ankle, and then his boots in the same blue as the rest of his armor.

His eyes are closed, but his slightly effeminate features are a traitor to his otherwise very streamlined body. There are tubes going into his bald head, and all over the skin across the rest of his body as well. Other than those, however, he is suspended in the green liquid, as if sleeping peacefully. But that isn't the main subject of Slade's attention, nor is it Cyborg's focal point. They are staring just in front of this pod, at its guardian. But before anyone can speak a word, a clicking noise is heard.

"Zero, I've come to join you." Cyborg says, his arm cannon pointed at the back of Slade's head. "And, as a token of good faith, I've brought to you one whose mistakes I can remedy." Slade doesn't dare move, just slowly brings his hands up into plain view. Zero chuckles, folding his hands over his chest and looking at the two.

"What makes you think I won't just kill the two of you where you stand?" Zero asks, his voice the same as it was over 600 years ago. Cyborg peeks his head over Slade's shoulder, and cracks a smile.

"You can't be in two places at once, Zero. If you leave this room, than X is left unprotected. If you don't, then what needs doing will never get done. You know the Robot Masters are incompetent geese that could never destroy even one of us, much less all of us. You need one who can actually stand up to the Teen Titans. I'm your man, err… Cyborg." Zero chuckles at this, and nods his head.

"Yes, alright. You've got the job. Don't kill Slade though. He has a job to do, one he hasn't done yet. Let him run away for now… I'll give you your mission once we're sure he's gone." Cyborg lowers his arm, poking Slade in the back with the cannon. Slade, seeing his opportunity, takes a dash into the shadows, silently cursing his misfortune. Meanwhile, Cyborg takes a look at Zero, his new master… Is it just his new outlook on life, or has Zero always been this attractive?

Raven and Beast Boy sit upon the couch, watching a scary movie. They have been sitting here, cuddling, for most of the morning. Suddenly, and out of nowhere no less, they hear a cough, the clearing of a throat nearby. Whirling around, they see Slade, stepping out of the shadows. He has his hands raised in 'surrender', but they've seen this act before. They don't trust him… Not one bit.

"'The enemy of my enemy is my friend.'" Slade begins, walking towards a chair. He points towards it, and (glowering) the two let him sit. He keeps his hands up, in the air. Then, and only then, he continues.

"Zero is back. I'm sure you know that, having destroyed his minions countless times. What you don't know is that Cyborg has joined forces with him. I know this, because he did so with his cannon to the back of my head." Beast Boy looks at Raven for a moment, his eyes glistening. She still has the anger in her eyes that he normally would've only seen in Robin, so he draws from this as Slade continues.

"They think I'm going to try to kill you, but I don't think that would be prudent. What would be prudent would be for us to join forces, so that we may defeat this menace on our own terms.

"I know that Robin, in his infinite wisdom, wouldn't ever consider taking me in as a friend, or anything of the sort, but I can at least try with the two of you. I… No, the world needs your help. Please. Consider it." Slade sits back, the pain obvious in his eyes. Raven and Beast Boy talk amongst themselves for a moment, and then look back at Slade. A few more seconds of whispering, and they stand up, brushing their legs off.

"Alright, Slade. I can see that you're just going to betray us later on, but we'll let you help us for the time being. It's just-" Raven is interrupted by a yell, a scream of agony so pure that she can not help but cover her ears.

Raven, Beast Boy, and Slade rush down to the room where Starfire is being held, but have to stop, standing in the stairwell. Robin kneels over a limp body, with just a little too much skin showing… Can it be? Raven gives a gasp as Robin stands, his head bowed down. He is no longer the same boy he was a week ago, a day ago, six hundred years ago. Turning around to face the others, his face slowly moves up towards the three standing there in the doorway. Streaks where the tears still freely flow mar his cheeks, his old mask is gone, on the ground. Now, instead of the pure white eye-holes he once had, he shows a set of glowing green eyes, much akin to what the fallen Starfire had.

"C…Chicken Pox. That was what she had. A warrior the likes of which the world has never known, and will never know again, felled by Chicken Pox. A**childhood disease**!!!" As he says this last phrase, his entire body starts glowing with the green energy, he seems to ignore Slade entirely. He has seen phantoms of the man so often over the past six hundred years, he doesn't even see the man who claims to be his father any longer. He shoves the three aside, out of his mind with grief and anger at the moment, and walks up to his room, to be alone.

The three others look upon the corpse of Starfire for a moment, and then Raven and Beast Boy leave. Slade is left alone, staring down at the girl whom he had tried to kill countless times. Yet, he knew that she was not meant to die here. Not this day. So, he lifts her corpse up into his arms, to go outside of the Titan's Tower. Walking down to a small section of the ground that seems pretty undisturbed, he starts digging a grave for the girl.

Hours of backbreaking work later, Slade feels that he is done digging. The red-brown earth lies in a pile to one side of the small grave, which he lays Starfire in. The silent, hard work does him good to think about how his death had gone, about how much he wants to make up for it now. Eventually, he is done, and has to go back to the Titan's Tower. When he does, he goes up to the main portion of the tower, where Raven and Beast Boy are waiting for him.

"Where have you been? Plotting to kill us in our sleep?" Raven asks, more of an off-hand comment than anything. Slade just chuckles, sitting down on the couch.

"No, I just buried Starfire. I didn't ever want her to die… It's amazing how a few hundred years in hell can change a person." With that, Slade begins to watch T.V. But no sooner than he picks up the remote, a man walks down the stairs of the common room and stands before them. What once was Robin is no longer, he is now a new beast entirely. He is now that which he once heard Starfire call him, to say who he was at the time. He is now wearing, to the best of his ability, the costume of a better man.

"Nightwing, right?" Slade says, voicing what the rest are thinking. Nightwing looks down at Slade, whom he seems to acknowledge as existing for the first time. His first reaction is to charge up an orb of green energy around both of his fists, pointing one at his arch-rival. Slade's hands slowly go back to the surrendering position, his eyes never once leave Nightwing's.

"You mean… You exist this time?" Nightwing says, his eyes widening. Slade nods, and Nightwing fires one shot, that would've punctured Slade's skull had he not dodged out of the way in time.

"Fire your bolts of death not at me, for there is a larger enemy that should be dealt with!" Slade yells, from behind the couch. Nightwing thinks for a moment, and then floats up, hovering over the top of the couch.

"Zero?" He asks, looking down at the 'hiding' man. Slade nods, and Nightwing cries out in anguish, a beam of pure energy flowing out of his hands into the sky. Then, for a moment, Nightwing is gone. He flies out of the room, down towards an inevitable sight. When he returns, the walls seem to be bending away from his anger, his righteous fury coming off of his skin in crackling bolts of pure energy.

"Slade, what did you do to Starfire… To **my**Starfire?" Nightwing asks, to which Slade responds by standing up, motioning for Nightwing to follow him. And the three of them do, following Slade through the beginnings of rain to stand at Starfire's grave. Nightwing falls to his knees at her grave, the rain mingling with his tears, which have begun anew. And as the tears hit the ground to make puddles with the rain, the sky darkens, maybe to act as the great Mother Nature crying to cover up the horrors that have been committed, or maybe that which has yet to come…

The corpse of the last Robot Master falls at Zero's feet, Cyborg wiping a little bit of sweat off of the human side of his brow. Looking up at his master, he waits for the final decision. His master looks at him for a moment, and smiles. Then, he points down at the useless robots in front of him, electrical bolts of energy spreading from his fingers. Slowly, the eight rise, their wounds seeming to heal quickly, so quickly.

"Your time has not yet come. Now, risen by my own self, I can give you just the power you'll need. You know your mission. Go, do it." Zero says, as the robots come on-line. One of them points at Cyborg, and Zero shakes his head. The robot nods, and the eight, now glowing and in golden versions of their old armor, dash off to do the job for which they have been tasked.

"How do you know that Slade betrayed us?" Cyborg asks, looking over at Zero. The robot shakes his head again. Though Cyborg is dying to know, he decides to keep further questions to himself, lest he anger his new master. This servant thing is just a little bit tougher than he thought…

"Cyborg, I want you to follow them. When they fail at their mission, I want you to go in behind them, destroy what is left of the Teen Titans. Only then will you be able to be my true successor." Zero says, dismissing Cyborg. He looks up at his master with a wide eye, knowing full well that he alone can't defeat the Teen Titans. But, he seems to have no other choice. He nods, and solemnly leaves the cave, to follow the Robot Masters at a safe distance.

Nightwing and Slade are 'sparring' on the roof of the Titan's Tower, Slade having to fight for his life just to keep on his feet. Beast Boy and Raven are sort of watching, sort of necking a relatively safe distance away. Also a relatively safe distance away, the eight Robot Masters lie in wait. It surprises them how well golden armor blends in to the shadows, but they watch the sparring match unfold. Nightwing brings Slade to his knees, the both of them panting and sweating. Then, instead of striking a final blow and ending his greatest foe's life, Nightwing extends his hand.

"Now!" The Frost Walrus yells, barreling into the sparring ring. The four snap their gaze towards their opponent, but the Masters are already upon them. The more powerful four go after Slade and Nightwing, while the weaker four go after Raven and Beast Boy. For the first time in his life, Nightwing fights alongside Slade, for the same goal. Surprisingly enough, the two work very well together. Not nearly as well as Raven and Beast Boy work together, playing off of each other to completely destroy the opposition. But, like normal, they easily enough destroy their aggressors.

Out of the shadows, Cyborg walks onto the battleground, applauding the four of them. Slade growls at Cyborg, but Nightwing puts his hand on his father's shoulder.

"No, this is my fight." He says, pulling his staff out of his utility belt. Slade bows his head slightly, walks over to the other two, and sits back to watch.

"So you've finally come back, huh?" Nightwing says, circling with Cyborg, who nods in agreement. "Well good. I've been waiting for our rematch. This time, I won't be such an easy win."

"Good," Cyborg says, "because I'd not have it any other way." With that, the two lunge at each other, meeting in mid-air. Metal strikes metal as fist meets staff, sparks flying across the roof. Defying gravity with their speed, the two seem suspended in the air for a moment as three or four blows rain down from the two of them, none actually hitting anything close to a vital spot. Kicking off of each other, the two land a few feet away, to circle each other again.

"She's dead, you know." Nightwing says, his hands glowing green. Cyborg gasps, shocked, but then dodges as five bolts of energy come whizzing past his head. Rolling, he fires a shot 'from the hip', missing Nightwing entirely.

"How?" Cyborg asks, dodging continually to avoid the barrage of energy blasts. Nightwing laughs, green fire seeming to emanate from his eyes.

"Chicken Pox." He says, as a set of laser vision beams cut through Cyborg's chest. Robin's best friend, Nightwing's first felled enemy, lays back, feeling his life support systems beginning to shut down. For a moment, the green in Nightwing's eyes subsides, and Robin rushes forwards to kneel by his best friend's side.

"My god… What have I done?" Robin asks, a few tears starting to form around his eyes. "First Starfire, and now you too? I can't handle this!" Cyborg coughs, and touches Robin's hand with his own.

"Don't worry about it, Robin. Just take out Zero, and all will be forgiven. Yo… It'll be good to get back. See you on the flip side…" Cyborg coughs again, and the red glow from his cybernetic eye fades to black. When Robin stands, Nightwing's eyes flare from his face, but it seems to be a mix of the two that stands tall and proud in front of the other three. He walks over to the others, and looks Slade in the eyes.

"What do you know about Zero's place of business?"

Nightwing takes point, Beast Boy and Raven behind him, and Slade takes up the rear. After what happened last time in this cave, he doesn't want anyone trying to sell him out. This, of course, makes the three Teen Titans left nervous, but they walk into the cave without showing any fear. Upon getting into the cavern, they see Zero standing there, just as promised. Raven and Nightwing seem to suddenly start exuding energy, as if they know they're going to need it for the battle to come.

"Ahh, so the battle finally comes to my doorstop. And I suppose Cyborg is dead?" Zero asks, his voice calm and cool. Nightwing's eyes flare out, but a calming hand on his shoulder from Beast Boy makes him just slightly less homicidal, for the moment.

"Y…Yes. He's dead. You're next." Nightwing says, but Zero holds his hand up, motioning his head towards X's capsule.

"Maybe so, but not here. Not in front of him. If you want to fight me, we'll do it anywhere else, on this planet or off, but not in front of him. I won't fight you in front of this capsule." Right then is when Slade decides to make his move.

He pushes through them, running almost in slow motion towards Zero. As he does, he screams at the three. "Go! Take X and go! He's the only one to match Zero's power! I'll hold Zero off, just **go**!"

Zero laughs, his hand moving towards his blade as the other three move towards the capsule that X is being held in. Raven puts out her hand, to slow Zero slightly, so that Slade can get to him before he pulls out his blade. And Slade does get there first, grabbing the Z-saber for himself and throwing it across the room. Beast Boy turns into a gorilla, pulling the capsule out of the tubing, which causes the green liquid to disperse and the capsule to collapse, broken glass getting all over the place. But, instead of worrying about that, Nightwing just grabs X and tosses him over his shoulder, flying out of the cave with the other two at his heels. At the entrance to the cavern he hesitates, turning back to see Slade grappling with Zero. He knows the man isn't going to give him much more time, and so he flies out, hearing the death screams of his father as he goes…

A few weeks pass. Nightwing, Beast Boy, and Raven search the megalopolises of the world, finding the most brilliant scientists in the world. But, one after another, they fail to revive the mechanical warrior that Slade gave his life to give to the Teen Titans. They have the eight Robot Masters to study as well, but still nothing comes close to the complexity of the one named 'X'. But then, a revelation.

In the back of a small library, full to the brim with old, paper books that must be over six to seven hundred years old, an old man tinkers with an ancient brass lamp. He is slightly chubby, with pure white hair. Raven walks into his library, the local sentiment being that he's the smartest man in all of Under. When she gets to him, however, she notices a strange feeling about him, a calming essence that she couldn't' feel from outside. Was this the man they had been looking for?

"Excuse me, sir…" She asks, getting him to turn to face her. A small set of ancient, actual glass glasses sit on the end of his nose, which he pushes up with an ungloved finger.

"Yes? What can I do for you?" He asks, his humble voice calming her soul. Instantly, she knows him to be pure, his heart to be a good one.

"We need you to help us. I can feel it, you're the one that can save him." She says, her eyes sparkling. The man in front of her looks confused for a moment, and then realization dawns on him.

"It's X, isn't it? Oh god, he's back… Yes, of course I'll help you." He says, walking around the counter. The two of them walk out of the shop, and he locks the door behind him. Then she takes his hand in hers, flying back to the Titan's Tower.

Two hours after the man, who identified himself as Dr. Light, put himself into the room where they were keeping X, he walks out to address the three members of the Teen Titans.

"I've done all I can do. Should Deo smile upon him, he shall rise soon. Other than that, I can only tell you of one thing. Hidden, by myself, there is a program that can be put into X. I have separated it into four separate parts, that when put together, push X's limits to their absolute greatest. His physical form alters to match this, and he will find himself wearing what can only be described as the Ultimate Armor. If your quest is to destroy Zero, then you will need that Ultimate Armor, and one with the computer intelligence to put the pieces together. I… Didn't take it apart in the first place, so I can't put it back together. Now, my involvement in this is over. I need to get back to my home. Please excuse me…" Dr. Light, carrying his bag, leaves, getting the proper goodbyes from the Teen Titans. Then, they wait for X to get up.

Sure enough, within the next few hours, X walks through the door. He wears a helmet now, of the two colors of blue, which hide the top of his head. That, and where he had skin below that is now covered with a very light blue, skin tight armor piece. Instead of his right hand, he now has an empty space, probably where an arm cannon rests.

"Good morning, humans. I am Megaman X. I have been programmed to fight any evil that shows itself in the world…. Do you know of any such evil?" He says, his eyes focused and green. If they hadn't known that he wasn't human his own self, they would've thought him incredibly funny…

"Before that, we need to find your Ultimate Armor. The opponent which we must fight is a strong one indeed, one who's already taken a lot from us." Nightwing says, turning slightly away. Megaman X nods slightly, and turns to Raven, and Beast Boy. She stands just a little bit closer to him, and he pats her on the shoulder. All three of these have seen incredible losses, and just want this whole mess to be over.

"All right then, let's go find these pieces of the Ultimate Armor!" X says, bouncing just a little bit. His voice sounds like that of a little kid, but that doesn't bother the Teen Titans any. They just smile slightly, though Nightwing doesn't keep his smile for nearly as long as Beast Boy keeps his.

"We don't know where the Ultimate Armor is, X. That poses much more of a problem than the computer genius. Even in our time, the world was full of hackers. I'm sure that with the advances into science and technology, there are probably more cyber-punks now than there were six hundred years ago. You go out and find yourself those pieces of the armor, and take Raven with you. Just in case. Beast Boy and I will go out to find the hacker-" He is cut off by a whining sound from Beast Boy.

"Can't you go with X, Rob-err… Nightwing? I don't want to leave Raven behind." Beast Boy asks, his voice sounding more like a plea than an actual question. With minimal grumbling from Nightwing, he agrees, and the groups are set. Nightwing and X go out to one side, where X is sensing some energy signature, while Beast Boy and Raven go back into Under, to try to find that one person that would have the information that they're looking for.

In the jungles of Brazil, X's signal gathering device reaches an all-time high. Clearing some foliage, the two find themselves in a clearing, with a capsule, much like the one that was found in Zero's cave. The top is connected to the trees around the clearing, probably not trees at all. The bottom is in the ground. X steps inside the capsule, for a moment, and a green light emanates from the inside of the capsule, X's body seems to exude electrical energy for a moment. Nightwing watches in awe as X hovers, suspended, for a moment. Then, as quickly as he stepped in, X steps out, and the signal from the capsule is gone. The two go on, to try to find the next piece of the armor.

Beast Boy and Raven walk into a cyber café, where an impromptu tournament of the latest RTS video game is being played. And, one by one, all of the people in the café are losing to the same person, who goes by the screen-name "Alia5". So the two go through the café, looking for this Alia5. Searching, searching, but to no avail. He, or she, isn't in the building. So, they turn to one of the people in the building. He tells them that he, or she, can be tracked, but it will take them a while. So, Beast Boy and Raven wait there, for the person to complete their trace.

The afternoon sun beats down upon Nightwing and Megaman X as the two ride a motorboat to an abandoned oil rig in the middle of the Indian Ocean. But, when they find themselves at the base of this rig, they notice that the signal starts getting slightly weaker as they climb up on top of the rig. So, X stops on the great ladder, and motions for Nightwing to get back onto the boat. With a cat-like grace, X dives into the water. Seconds seem like hours for Nightwing as he sits in the relative peace, awaiting the return of the warrior from the far past, which is the far future to his eyes. He thinks about the death of Starfire, of Cyborg, of Slade, of everyone he had ever known. He is lost in the sea of time, and he doesn't especially like it. But then, just as he begins to get depressed by his own thoughts, X comes back up into the boat, nodding. He has the part, and so they go towards the next nearest signal on X's radar.

"I've got it." The guy says, pointing at his screen. They have an address of the computer that she's using at the moment. They turn back to the guy, and tell him to hold her at that site for as long as they can, to have her keep playing this game, so that she can't run away. He nods, and they rush out of the café. Flying through the streets of Under, they eventually come to her address, an old house that looks from the outside to be abandoned. Silently, they get inside. Searching the house, they only find a single person, a little girl. She sits at her computer, presumably playing a game with those at the café still.

"Excuse me, are you Alia5?" Raven says, from the doorway. The little girl's head snaps up, and her eyes go wide. She scampers to the back of the room, but Beast Boy is already blocking her secondary escape, sitting on it in his human form again. The little girl starts crying, and so Raven walks over. "It's okay, we're not here to hurt you, or to get you in trouble. We need your help, little one."

"You can't breathe in space. I have to do this alone." These are X's words to Nightwing, over the intercom, as he prepares to fly this small, one-man rocket into outer space. The third capsule seems to be on a satellite, somewhere far above where Russia used to be. Nightwing can do nothing but watch as X comes into orbit, launches himself out of the ship and into the wreckage of the satellite, make the entire thing glow with an eerie green light, and then launch himself back to the ship. Re-entry is not a problem, and he very soon finds himself back at the Titan's Tower, with Robin, trying to locate the last, tiny signal.

"That sounds really complicated, you know." The little girl says. She has stopped crying, but is having a hard time figuring out just exactly what the Teen Titans need her to do. Raven, who is petting the girl's hair (at first to calm her down, now just because she likes it), tells her again, calmly, what they need done. The girl scratches her head, stands up, and walks over to her computer. As she sits, typing, Raven turns to Beast Boy.

"You know… We won't be teenagers forever. Maybe…" Beast Boy's eyes get about the same size as dinner plates, and he shakes his head.

"No… Not for me. Thanks, but no thanks." He starts sweating, but then sees the giggle on her face, blushes that same strange color, and turns away. Raven hugs him from behind, kissing his cheek.

Eventually, Nightwing and X find the signal's source. So, the two spelunk down into Mt. St. Helens, deep into the now dead volcano. Of course, all volcanoes are dead now, but that's not the point. This specific one has the capsule in the middle of a small lake, a lake of lava. This is probably the only place on Earth that still has lava out in the open like this, but all is well. Easily leaping across, X finds the last piece of the Ultimate Armor, the energy coursing through his metallic veins, making the energy almost palpable on his skin. He is tempted to walk across the surface of the lava, using the energy he feels as a balancing maneuver, but he does not. Instead, he leaps across, giving Nightwing a high five and letting the two of them escape the hottest place on Earth, to get back to Under and the Titan's Tower.

"Alright, I'll help you guys out. I mean, it **is**all about saving the world, so I guess I can help out with that." The little girl says, as she closes her laptop computer. Raven and Beast Boy cheer for her a little bit, giving a bit of applause, and then the three of them head back towards the Titan's Tower. When they get there, Nightwing and Megaman X are sitting on the couch. Nightwing waves at the girl, looking up at Raven and Beast Boy. But X can't help but stare at her…

"Do I know you?" He asks, his face showing the faintest of memory. The little girl shakes her head, and sets her computer down by the main screen of the Titan's Tower. After connecting herself into the system, she holds out a plug.

"Whoever it is that's getting this needs to step forwards." She says, and X stands up, cautiously taking the plug in his hand. He snakes the cord to his arm cannon, and plugs himself in. The little girl starts typing away, trying to find out how to unlock the secrets of this robot's system. One at a time, the pieces of his armor start coming on-line. When the piece comes on-line, it turns from his normal blue to a more white color, leaving a small line of blue underneath it where his old armor is still. Eventually, she finishes, and Megaman X's Ultimate Armor is complete, on him. He unplugs himself, stands up, and feels the absolute power run through him. The main addition, that he can see, is that he now has a small set of wings coming out of his back, theoretically that can open and give him flight. While he goes up onto the roof to test this out, an emergency signal appears on the main screen.

"It's Zero! Come on, we've got no time! He is attacking our tower!" Nightwing yells, and the four warriors scramble. It appears that their final fight, the fight to end it all, is about to finally happen. When they get out, up and onto the roof, Beast Boy happens to be at point. He turns himself into a very large, very angry looking animal, supposedly from Starfire's world. With a huge, bear-like claw, he swipes at the fragile-looking Zero. But that creature is too fast for him. A slash from Zero's sword sends that claw, and the arm it is attached to, flying. So Beast Boy changes forms, into a great wasp-like creature, also from an alien world. Almost able to match Zero's speed, he stabs and slashes with the robot's sword, actually scoring a few hits. But he is no match for the demonic warrior robot in red. A few lightning-fast slashes later, and Beast Boy is on the ground, bleeding to death. He instinctually changes back into his normal form, and the bleeding is slowed down because of that, but he is still mortally wounded. Raven rushes to his side.

"Beast Boy! No!" She yells, kneeling at his side. He just smiles up at her, coughs, and utters his last words:

"Raven… I love you…" His body changes once more, from a humanoid to a small puddle of green fur. Beast Boy is no more. Raven shakes for a moment, then stands up. Slowly, she turns to face Zero. The white robes surrounding her blow up and out, as if a very strong gust of wind suddenly started whirling around her. Once again, her robes change color. What was violet, and then was white, now becomes the red and yellow of fire, her hair and eyes flashing the same colors. Yet the energy she throws at Zero, in spades, is the same classic pure black, electricity flaring off of it. She does not hold back this shot, that had destroyed an entire plane of existence not three weeks prior. Zero crosses his arms over his chest, growling and finding himself flung back, off of the side of the building. Raven flies after him, to finish the job. As she gets to the end of the tower, she raises both hands above her head, forming enough energy above her to decimate the entirety of existence in general.

"You bastard, you killed him! You killed my Beast Boy! **Die!**" Raven yells, as she throws the ball of energy down the side of the tower. That ball takes out a hemispherical shape out of the side of the tower all of the way down, before hitting Zero. But, instead of exploding like it was supposed to, it seems to just disappear. Raven just hovers there, and then Nightwing calls to her, to come back. She turns, as maniacal laughter can be heard even here. A purple arc of energy can be seen passing straight up through her, and she vanishes into a cloud of violet dust. The exact same way she had died over six hundred years ago.

"No…" Nightwing whispers, as the purple fire he has only seen once before hovers up the side of the Titan's Tower. Zero, in black armor. His sleek, bulbous black armor has gold trim on the ankles and wrists, all covered over in an incredibly powerful purple energy signature. Megaman X takes a step back, gasping in awe, but Nightwing takes a step forwards.

"You have killed your last, Zero. You have destroyed my friends, giving me nothing left to lose. You'll find, shortly, that a man with nothing left to lose is a dangerous opponent." Then Nightwing starts hovering in the air, his body crackling with green energy to match and off-set Zero's purple energy. Then, in a wonderful and fast-paced clash, the two of them begin to do battle.

Zero's sword meets Nightwing's staff, the energy from the two of them exploding to unprecedented levels. They leave an energy trail behind them as they clash and fly away, circle around and clash again. All within a few microseconds of each other. Eventually, they decide to make the battle three dimensions, and so the circular trail that had been around them now turns into a pure sphere. The fluxuating energy field around the two of them seems solid, opaque. X just stands by, waiting for his turn with Zero. Then, a scream is heard. The energy field dissipates quickly, as Nightwing clutches at Zero's wrist. Coughing up a little bit of blood, Zero's hair is marred by human blood. Not for the first time…

"You… You won't get away with this…" Nightwing slides off of Zero's energy sword, his internal energy making that blade quite solid to him. As he slumps to the ground, he looks over at Megaman X, breathing out. A small bit of green energy flows through the air, and X's eyes glow pure green, before going back to just the green irises of before. X just looks up at Zero, and charges a shot on his blaster. Zero chuckles, floating down and landing on the ground before X.

"You know you can't defeat me. You weren't able to defeat me last time, you won't defeat me this time." Zero says, walking confidently towards X. "These humans were nothing, just as you are nothing. Give up now, and I'll let you live again, to fight another day." X shakes his head, imbuing the last of Starfire's energy into this blaster shot. Shooting it at Zero, he hopes for the best. But Zero just slashes once, and the blast dissipates into nothingness.

"I won't let you harm any more innocent people, Zero! You've gone Maverick, and you need to pay the price!" X yells, his wings unfurling. His Giga attack, the Phoenix Dash, activates, and he uses his body as the weapon to fling himself through Zero. One slash, however, and X's Ultimate Armor flashes a warning across his virtual Heads Up Display.

[WARNING, CORE COLLAPSE IMMINENT. CORE COLLAPSING IN THIRTY SECONDS.

X weighs his options for a moment, and then finally comes to his final decision. Dashing forwards, he tackles Zero to the ground. Zero looks up at him as his armor begins to broadcast its warning, lest there be any innocent civilians in the way of the explosion. But Zero can not break free.

"Goodbye, Zero…" X says, as the core detonates and makes the entire Titan's Tower explode.

[Three hours later

"Dr. Light, is this what you were looking for?" A humble fireman, still trained even though there are no more serious fires in the world, picks out a small corpse from the debris of the tower. From the looks of the wires sticking out of various places of the corpse, it is a robot. Its eyes are closed, but it has the slight remnants of a blue helmet, welded to the pseudo-flesh skull. Dr. Light hugs this little corpse to his chest, even though it has no legs. In fact, the only limb still attached it the little guy's right arm. Dr. Light thanks the fireman, bows, and walks back to his library, in the city of Under.

A few hours later, he arrives, pulling out a book from one of the shelves behind the counter. A bookcase slides into the wall, leaving a small passageway into a deeper section of the library. Making sure no one is watching, he walks inside this place, where a small white table, tools, parts, and a large capsule is found.

"Don't worry… I'm going to fix you. You're going to be all better…"

©Johnathan Russell Cameron, November 2007


End file.
